CLEVELAND — Until the Yankees find dependable help in front of Mariano Rivera, the biggest weakness will continue to shatter pinstripe hearts.
With Brian Bruney on the DL for the second time, Jose Veras unable to contain his emotions and the Yankees stubbornly refusing to move Joba Chamberlain to the bullpen, the Yankees asked neophytes Phil Coke and David Robertson to extend a game against the Indians yesterday at Progressive Field.
Chien-Ming Wang’s three scoreless innings in relief of Phil Hughes gave the Yankees a chance to tie the score in the eighth, and they did on Mark Teixeira’s two-run double.
Then, after blowing a strong scoring chance in the ninth, Yankee manager Joe Girardi asked Coke and Robertson to get the game into extra innings. Instead, Robertson gave up a game-winning single to Jhonny Peralta in the home ninth that lifted the Tribe to a 5-4 victory in front of 29,405.
Robertson, 24, and Coke, 26, have enough stuff to pitch in the big leagues. But are they ready for big spots?
Since an ineffective Edwar Ramirez was banished to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, nobody knowing when Bruney will return and Veras pitching terribly, Coke and Robertson have been dropped into the deep end of the pool.
Of course, that’s not the way Coke saw the crucial leadoff walk to Trevor Crowe in the ninth that turned into the game-winning run.
“I thought it was a strike,” the left-hander said of the 3-2 inside cut fastball to the No. 9 batter that was called a ball by Jeff Nelson.
“I don’t want to re-think anything. Based on the way he took the approach to the at-bat, maybe I should have thrown [the ball down the middle of the plate].”
Asdrubal Cabrera’s bold two-strike bunt moved Crowe to second and brought the right-handed Robertson into face right-handed hitting Ben Francisco. Robertson wasn’t close with a 3-1 pitch to dig the hole deeper.
When Robertson missed with the first pitch to Peralta, pitching coach Dave Eiland went to the mound. Another ball followed in front of a called strike and a ball. At 3-1, Peralta rifled a grounder between the third base line and a lunging Alex Rodriguez for the game-winning hit.
“I didn’t want to get to 3-1 in that situation,” Robertson said. “I didn’t get the job done.”
The loss, which went to Coke (1-3), stopped the Yankees’ three-game winning streak and reduced their AL East lead over the Red Sox to one-half game.
Coke and Robertson didn’t deliver, but there was more blame. Hughes’ so-so outing included four runs and five hits in five innings.
Derek Jeter opened the game with a double and watched Carl “American Idle” Pavano retire the next three batters to strand Jeter.
Hideki Matsui drew a leadoff walk from Kerry Wood in the ninth and pinch-runner Ramiro Pena was bunted to second by Nick Swisher. Brett Gardner followed with an infield single that put runners at the corners for Jorge Posada, who entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the eighth.
Gardner, who cost the Yankees a run in the fifth when he misjudged Cabrera’s fly to center that resulted in a double, received Girardi’s steal sign, but didn’t go.
“That’s been addressed,” Girardi said of Gardner not running.
It turned out to be lethal when Posada banged into a 4-6-3 double play.
Less than a half-inning later, the Yankees’ weakest link broke another heart.
“Walks usually beat you in situations like that,” said Girardi, whose club has won 14 of 18. “It happened to us. They got the hit and we didn’t.”
